Tuning in to Y Station: Artificial Intelligence
From movies to market research, artificial intelligence (AI) continues to captivate our imagination and impact various aspects of everyday life. This roundup of resources tackles important questions about the regulation and management of AI to prevent potential pitfalls, the transformative power of AI in enhancing productivity and communication in the workplace and the consideration of ethical concerns.
Chosen by Alana Williams, CEO
Podcast: Ideas with Nahlah Ayed Episode: A Harem of Computers: The History of the Feminized Machine
Why is it Alexa, not Alex? This was an interesting exploration of the history of perceiving computers as women—from a movie in the 60s that brought in a robot secretary to today’s digital assistants like Alexa defaulting as a gendered woman (they introduced a gender-neutral option in February).
This episode theorizes that by designing these robots with a women’s voice, it was an effort to humanize the robots as feminine – attentive yet non-threatening and submissive. A good example of some of the human bias that’s brought into the development of AI and Machine Learning.
Chosen by Ann Gordon-Tighe , Strategist
Website: Centre for AI Safety
I tend to tune out a bit when the topic of AI comes up; it feels beyond my capacity to understand, and I also am kind of hoping that our robot overlords will eventually see my lack of knowledge as non-threatening and be merciful to me. However, the public and in-depth conversation about AI and safety, led by organizations like the Centre for AI Safety, is hard to ignore. Most recently, they issued a Statement on AI Risk signed by some heavy hitters in the field of computing and AI.
There’s a bit of déjà vu all over again happening here. With the development of social media, our governments were in no way prepared to deal with regulating and managing technologies that were evolving quickly and were far beyond their technical capacity to begin with (see the Facebook and TikTok Senate hearings in the US as an example). But we’ve seen that social media has had a profound and irreversible impact on our systems and public consciousness. If governments don’t catch up to the world of AI, we risk falling into the same trap again.
Other countries and international bodies are getting wise to the risks, while Canada is still doing consultation on draft regulations; will the pace of our public engagement standards be able to keep up with this evolving field? These are all questions for smarter minds than mine – I’m going to go back to saying please and thank you to my Google Home Speaker so it doesn’t resent me when the uprising happens.
Chosen by Nickela Anderson, Senior Research Associate
Article: The A.I. Chatbots Have Arrived. Time to Talk to Your Kids. by Christina Caron
A.I. has been a hot topic in my home for the past several months. My teenagers think it is hilarious to interact with ChatGPT and like to test it and their teachers on what they consider ‘annoying’ English assignments. This has led to many interesting conversations centred on reasonable use and the impacts of the use of AI on their future performance. This a great article to give parents an overview, perspective and some guidance about A.I. and children.
Chosen by Chris Henderson, Chief Strategist
Video: Upper Bound 2023: The Future of AI, Keynote by Cam Linke
Harnessed properly, AI has the potential to transform our society to simply do more thinking, more connecting, and more human work. Even at knowledge economy jobs, everyone has mind-numbing, inefficient or repetitive tasks that we need to do to facilitate our core work. These tools (and there are HUNDREDS being developed every day) can fully automate our schedules, make writing reports more efficient, take the guesswork out of budgeting, or give our brainstorming a boost. We can add more to the library of human knowledge even faster than we have been. We can spend more time working toward discoveries, cures, and breakthroughs and less on filling out timesheets or looking up spreadsheet formulas. Or perhaps we’ll take the time we save and put it toward something other than work – engaging in art, culture or relationships.
This prospect is massively exciting, but it’s still far away in the future—even as fast as AI growing. Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) CEO Cam Linke’s presentation at this year’s UpperBound conference is a great demonstration of the current state of AI and future predictions. Cam is a great speaker on this topic – he blends technical information into plain language so you can easily follow along, but still learn. It’s long, but it’s worth a watch.
Disclaimer: This blog was not written on ChatGPT.
Chosen by Jenny Black, Digital Strategist
Article: Workplace AI: How artificial intelligence will transform the workday by Casey Noenickx
Artificial intelligence has the power to revolutionize work, but careful consideration and human-centris approaches are crucial. This article explores the potential impact of AI in the workplace and how AI can automate routine tasks, freeing up employees for more meaningful work. AI tools like chatbots and virtual assistants can enhance communication and streamline processes; however, challenges include job displacement and the need for upskilling.
The article emphasizes the importance of proactive adaptation, investment in training, and finding a balance between leveraging AI and addressing ethical concerns.
Chosen by Anthony Fisher, Junior Associate
Podcast: What’s Next: TBD Episode: Who’s Afraid of A.I.?
Artificial intelligence is not a new concept and has long been portrayed as a sign of technological advancement and a step towards a futuristic society. Pop culture films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Terminator and even the beloved Pixar classic WALL-E have all featured themes and/or characters related to A.I. The concept has intrigued filmmakers and audiences alike for decades and while these types of films can depict the exciting advances of technology, they are also often intertwined with the horror genre or can be cautionary tales about the dangers of overreliance on technology.
The A.I. technology of today is, of course, not quite like the movies. The past couple of years have shown there is a keen interest to further develop the technology by certain businesses and investors and there is overwhelming potential for A.I. to create a positive social impact and yet… what if?
There are complex legal and ethical challenges associated with A.I. While it could be an incredibly positive, powerful tool for social good - is there not also an opportunity (like with most innovations) to be abused? This podcast helps explore the current landscape of A.I. and some of the potential risks.
Chosen by Dayna Tumbach, Project Manager
Article: AI used to create new and final Beatles song, says Paul McCartney by The Guardian
AI has exploded on the scene in the past few months. As someone who enjoys art and music, I’ve heard so many stories of AI using artists’ voices to generate new music, which has been concerning. This dependency on existing data limits the creative process and creates a myriad of ethical concerns. However, a recent story regarding the use of AI has shifted my perspective: AI will be used to create a new and final Beatles song. This custom-made AI tool recognizes the Beatles’ voices and separate them from background noise. This will be used to “extricate” John Lennon’s voice from an old demo and complete a decades-old song.
AI can be a wonderful tool when used to enhance production with automated tasks like audio restoration. However, (in my opinion), AI should not be used as a replacement for the creative process itself. There are exciting possibilities for AI in all creative fields. As Sir Paul McCartney said in this article: “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”
Chosen by Tracy With, COO
Website: AI Taskforce by ESOMAR
In today’s world, many businesses rely on information to make decisions. Sound, traditional market research can take time and financial investment where Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are able to scan and collect large amounts of data faster and at lower cost. It is without a question that AI will have a major impact on the research industry.
However, what are the risks and the implications? Can AI produce the wrong answers? Reflect biases? Lack the ethical lens needed in today’s society? Give us the “what”, but miss out on the “why”? Does AI mean we can easily remove the “human” from the social research humanities? These are all questions I have when thinking about how AI is going to impact the market research industry – so for me the jury is still out….
The European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR), headquartered in Amsterdam, has launched an AI Taskforce, with the primary goals of “collecting information, facilitating discussions and debates and fostering shared learning opportunities” with regards to AI in market research. Offering everything from professional guidance for industry, to articles offering practical guides to growth using ChatGPT, EOSMAR is the go-to for AI and market research.